Choice of Words
by KKCopper
Summary: SO this is what I think will happen in chapter 5 of "Run for Your Life" by Protector Korii. If you haven't read it, your loss.   The Team is furious and wants someone to blame, but they take their words to far and only Robin cna bring peace. One-shot


_**(A/N: Got this idea and owe it COMPLETELY to **_Protector Korii_**~ It just came to me and I COULDN'T stop thinking about it after I read chapter four of "Run for Your Life" *which you must read in order to FULLY understand this, but if you haven't and DON'T xD wat evs, I don't judge ^-^* **_

_**ANYHOO, this is MY version of what could possibly be chapter five of "Run for Your Life' *which I HIGHLY recommend u read if you haven't* NOW xD as my usual, I don't expect many readers *I'm pathetic* SO enjoy anyways!**_

_**^-^ ~)**_

They'd all shown up at once in a fury, screaming at him and accusing him of everything they assumed him to have done. The things they'd thought up where far from the truth, usually, but a few accusations hit close to the very disturbing reality.

Right now, they were all yelling at him, their voices mixing into a sport-spectator sort of roar that echoed throughout the Cave. He didn't react, though, because he'd expected this and reacting wasn't part of who he was, so he stood there, hidden in the veil that was his cape, nothing showing but his head and part of his face (the rest concealed by a cowl) as the force of their words were thrown at him.

"… he's ONLY 13 Bru –"

Oliver.

"– HOW _COULD_ YOU? He shouldn't be –"

Dinah.

"… you would do ANYTHING for the MISSION wouldn't yo –"

Clark.

He didn't even flinch… at first, but _then _they took it too far.

"WHAT do you consider CHILD ABUSE Bruce? It's as if you don't care for him at all!"

It was a blow below the belt, delivered harshly by one of his closer friends who was one of the most furious of the group (much to Bruce's surprise). It wasn't like Barry to be harsh, and no one noticed him comment really, nor stopped shouting until the Dark Knight erupted.

"_SILENCE_!" his deep voice thundered in sudden rage and the Cave was instantly dead quiet. The dramatic change in volume was almost deafening as everyone looked at Batman- correction, _glared_ at Batman.

The Dark Knight was not a person who scared easily, though so it seemed, so he simply glared right back, but his look was ten-times as harsh. His hands were clenched into fists as his sides while he tried to control his breathing. The anger pouring out of him was obvious and a few of the League member present's hands started to shake. They were all a bit afraid of him, though none would admit it, especially at the present because ALL of them were _furious _at him for even _thinking_ of hurting the little Bird.

After a long stare down (which didn't stop), Batman finally spoke again.

"NONE of you have any right in the _world_ to just barge in here and start accusing me of ANYTHING," he snapped, loud and harsh.

"Oh, but DON'T we –" Superman started to argue but was quickly cut off.

"NO, you DON'T!" Batman shouted, all but biting the Kryptonian's head off with his tone.

"And WHY not?" Hal dared to ask, his tone cold and clipped.

"BECAUSE _none _of you will EVER understand!" he yelled back instantly. "All of you have gifts and _invulnerabilities_! You've either been born that way and have had it all of your life OR you've had it for such a portion of it that you would never know or remember what it's like to be _without_ them."

"We've trained _without them _BEFORE Bruce," Diana pointed out firmly, arms folded across her chest.

"Yes, but do you go into the FIELD day in and day out _without them_?" he retorted. "The only people who even _slightly _know what I am going through- what WE go through are the Arrows and they STILL don't fully understand because they don't know what it's like to be in _GOTHAM_."

Several people were about to comment on this when the Dark Knight glared at them. They shut their mouths, knowing he had more to say.

"BEFORE you say what I know you _all _are thinking you have to understand me more fully." His tone dropped down an octave. "We all have our reasons for becoming a hero. Some of ours are the simple need to help others while a few of us have a more… _tragic_ tale behind it."

The temperature seemed to drop down a degree in the room when the League realized what topic they'd just brought up.

"You all know what happened to Dick and me at a young age," he growled, "which is why I wouldn't give up my cape or cowl for anything and I know he wouldn't either. We wanted justice, and we got it, but we ALSO want to prevent others from going through. The. Same. Thing.

"BUT, Dick and I are merely_ human_ and sometimes you, along with others, seem to forget that! Whenever we are in battle, when we fight things that make even the strongest of YOU –" he gestured to the heroes in front of him "– weary just think how WE feel! WE have to work three times as hard to even keep up."

Batman glared at them for a second and his scowl deepened.

"You are ALL still judging me; I know you are by your gaze. You just WON'T understand! You may think I'm complaining but I'm NOT!"

Batman was livid as he continued, defending himself, his actions and his son with every word.

"Dick asked for this you know. He asked for it just as much as I did this whole life in general. ALSO, he _begged_ me for that training because he UNDERSTANDS why we have to go through it! We are HUMAN and we fight villains and psychos here in Gotham that are IN-human and they fight us in the most inhumane ways! We constantly have to be on the run if we're not fighting, they are skilled with their ways, whether it is poison, fear or insanity… and they use it to their advantage.

"You've all felt Scarecrow's fear gas before, imagine feeling that about three times as often, or doubled even. They change it up constantly and use our HUMANITY as our weakness. They know we tire and they know we break. They like to use us as guinea pigs with the poisons to so you never know what is coming and we don't always have an antidote. What you call INHUMANE TRAINING I call keeping my son alive."

They were all quiet for a bit when Barry suddenly exploded.

"He said YOU were the worst, still Bruce!" he shouted, stepping forward before anyone could stop him. "Whatever it was you PUT him through, it was apparently_ still_ worse than even the Gotham villains and their POISONS! You_ say_ you're keeping him alive and you _say_ you _love_ him but you sure have a strange way of SHOWING IT!"

Suddenly, before even the Blue Boy Scout or the Scarlet Speedster could react, Batman had Barry pinned up against one of the walls of the cave near a ledge, but right below it was about a fifty foot drop just big enough for the man to fit through. Barry instantly started to panic.

"NEVER ever tell me or accuse me of not loving my son!" the Dark Knight snarled ferociously, his rage pouring out of him. "He means the WORLD to me! You couldn't even BEGIN to understand how _much_ he _means_ to me!"

Batman had Barry pinned by a forearm to his neck as he held him there and shouted and Barry was clinging on to said arm for his life. A bit of fear was now showing in his eyes and he was almost afraid Bruce would let him go. Both men were shaking, Bruce slightly from anger and Barry considerably more from anger and a LOT of fear.

No one moved for a bit after Batman finished shouting, everyone to shocked and still thinking about what he'd said to move. Then, just as Superman took a step forward, a voice spoke up near the entrance of the cave from the manor.

"Bruce… what's going on?"

Batman turned his head slowly to look at his son. The two just stared at each other a bit before Batman slowly helped Barry back onto stable ground.

"Dick, I'm sorry did we wake you up?" Bruce asked his tone dramatically softer for his son.

Dick came nimbly down the stairs and over to his mentor. Bruce knelt down to be at his height and Dick paused in front of him.

"No, you didn't wake me up…" he said softly. "I heard you yelling… and…" A tear slipped down the boy's cheek and Bruce took his cowl off, making eye contact with his son. Then, after a second of silent communication he pulled Dick into a hug.

Dick sobbed into Bruce's shoulder, seeming much more his age, while Bruce rubbed his back.

"Sh… it's okay Dick," he soothed. Everyone knew what had happened because it was what _usually_ happened after the fear gas was in the boy's system for any amount of time.

"I-I know it was j-just a dream… but y-you had jumped too an-and," Dick sobbed again, unable to finish his thought and Bruce just soothed him.

"Eu nu vă voi lăsa pasăre mică. Îţi promit," _(__"__I__will not leave you__little__bird__. __I promise__.")_he whispered soothingly in his son's ear.

"Ştiu că tata, dar pur si simplu părea atât de real," _("__I know__father__, __but it just__seemed so__real__.__")_ Dick replied in a tone that was almost a whimper as a few more tears fell.

Dick cired silent tears for a little bit longer before he pulled back, his expression that of subtle curiousity. "What were you guys talking about?"

No one answered at first and Dick cast Bruce a meaningful look. _"__I know what it was about so just tell me."_

Bruce stared right back, a slightly more concerned look on his face. "_You weren't supposed to hear."_

Dick rolled his eyes. "_But I did, you guys were loud." _His expression then turned to sorrow. "_They hate you for it don't they..."_

Bruce looked at him firmly. "_Don't worry about it."_

Just then, Oliver stepped in.

"You know we don't understand your SILENT BAT COMMUNICATION so _please _speak aloud!" he snapped harshly and the two Bat family members looked at him.

Dick spoke first, "You know, you guys are blaming all the wrong people for this. It needed to happen, and you know why that is? Because of all the psychos we have here, THAT is why it needed to be done. It wasn't because of Bruce or anything that he desired to put me through, heck that's not even CLOSE to what it was! Bruce was berating himself the whole time for it. HE didn't WANT to do it! I begged him and even though I told him I understood and that I was okay with it, he still all but pleaded with me to forgive him for it afterwards…

"Now, I know where you guys are coming from with this, and your hearts are in the right place – even Alfred was mad at him at first – but you don't understand our situation. We only have our weapons and nimbleness to aid us out there so we need MORE. The ability to think rationally to help others is one of those other things we need and that is not something you are simply born with, you have to learn to have it, wean yourself onto it by going through extreme situations such as the incident with the Team and Scarecrow most recently that _require_ you to get with it or get dead. It's a simple fact of life that in some scenarios, much like the ones we face every day, if you make one mistake you DIE, so I knew it'd be better if I learned with a person I KNEW wouldn't kill me if I slipped up so that when it REALLY mattered, I could know what to do and not worry about an extreme fault… So if you want to blame _anyone_ for me going through THAT either blame the villains or blame ME."

...

No one spoke, all too shocked by what Dick had said while also surprised that they had no argument anymore. Dick had skillfully eaten away the rest of their defences and left them with nothing.

After the silence continued for another minute, Dick finally nodded to himself, smirking.

"That's what I thought," he said.

Suddenly, after a slight pause, Dick's emotions went from smug and stoic to light hearted.

"I'm going to leave now. If you need me, I'll be _trying_ to sleep." He winced to himself, a pained look in his eye when he said the last line, but he quickly hid it and headed off, almost bumping into Alfred on his way.

"Sorry Alfred!" Dick called. The butler simply rolled his eyes before heading over to the group that was gathered in the cave.

"I know there is a large, important meaning behind this gathering, but Master Bruce has work in the morning and Master Dick has school which means they both have to get to sleep. If you really must continue this conversation, it can be tomorrow" Alfred told them firmly.

In other words, that was Alfred's kind way of saying, "I want you _all _to leave NOW," and everyone knew that. But, they all respected the butler too much to defy him so they all simply left without another word.

Once they were all gone, Bruce spoke. "Thanks Alfred."

The butler nodded. "Of course Master Bruce," he replied and they headed upstairs.

Once the two'd reached the top, Alfred paused, looking down the hall at a small slant of light there, and then back at Bruce meaningfully. Bruce nodded knowingly, understanding what the butler was telling him, and headed off down the hall.

When he got to Dick's room, he paused, peering in the slight crack between the door and the frame. He taped on the wood lightly and spoke in a soft tone, "Dick, can I come in?"

"Yeah…" came the soft reply and Bruce stepped into the room.

Dick didn't move from where he was when Bruce entered, he hadn't even moved his eyes, nor did he move when Bruce sat down next to him. He simply laid there, on his back, eyes staring up blankly at the ceiling…

After a bit of comfortable silence, Bruce spoke.

"Can't sleep?" he asked. It was the first thing that had popped into his head and he wanted to face palm himself for it. It was a stupid question that would have a bad answer. The words were already out there, though, and he couldn't take them back.

Dick opened his mouth and closed it blankly, no words coming out at first. Then, he turned his head to meet his father's gaze and answered. The words he spoke, though, were not at all what Bruce had expected them to be.

"Will they ever understand?" he asked, propping himself up on his elbows as he spoke. "Why I had to go through that, I mean…"

Bruce was taken a bit aback by the topic, but he still answered.

"No, honestly I don't think they'll ever _fully _understand… They may understand it a bit _better _after tonight, but people's opinions – especially stubborn-headed heroes' – usually aren't' swayed very easily…" Bruce took a deep breath, a worried and slightly angered expression now ruling his face. "I think some part of them will never truly get over this, either, and their view on me might be slightly different because of it…"

Dick frowned. "They shouldn't think less of you, though. They've known you long enough that one thing shouldn't change what their opinion already is of you…"

"Not really, Dick. Besides, it's still on me for even DOING it –" Bruce tried to argue.

Dick bolted upright. "NO! There is not 'on me' or 'my fault's in this situation anymore! Do you understand? This isn't some _crime_ or bad deed in which you can (or should) point fingers. No one was hurt _out of reason _so there should be no one to BLAME!" Dick paused in his rant before looking at Bruce pleadingly.

"Please promise me you won't berate yourself over that _anymore_. The past is the past and we shouldn't always live in it," he begged.

Bruce looked at him, Robin, the child who'd come into his life and altered it so utterly much… His partner, his SON, and he realized Dick had never, not even _once_, been mad at him or changed HIS opinions of Bruce because of his actions. He'd always loved him and thought highly of him. He'd moved on….

Then maybe… he should too.

Bruce nodded. "I promise," he said and Dick hugged him with a smile on his face.

"Thank you."

_**(A/N: Cheesy ending? I wrote it around midnight so xD sorry if you don't like but THERE IT IS in all its glory or lack there for of~ This is what has been on my mind ever since I read ch. 4 of "On the Run" and I hope you liked it.**_

_**NOW REVIEW!**_

_**~KKCopper)**_


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